Blue Bar Quilts Class Instructors

About Cheryl

"From choosing fabric, to piecing it together, to quilting the layers, every part of the process is fulfilling. Quilts are not only an art form, but they can also serve to keep loved ones warm and add comfort to their lives. Since my first quilt in 2003, I have loved every step of the process and equally love sharing it with others. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced quilter, I want to share my skills and love of quilting with you!"
Website: unspooledwi.com
Instagram: @unspooledwi
Facebook: facebook.com/unspooledwi

About Heidi

"When composing a quilt I rarely adhere to a set plan, relying instead on improvisation. Remindful of color field painting, I begin my work with a feeling, place, or theme. Looking to reconstruct my world, I employ aerial views, photographic documentation, and artifacts- all the while aware that my goal is far more complex than the visual of a single point in time. The moments I choose to replicate are unique to me, and simultaneously innumerable in the lives of others.

In my work, I create a scaffolding of fabric, piecing, and quilting that allows me to reference many ideas on a single plane. The raw materials are textiles from domestic culture, fashion, family heirlooms, and scavenged prints. I integrate them with fabrics that I have embroidered, stained, dyed, or designed. These materials are pieced together to create the main imagery of the quilt, like a collage. This cloth is then beset with hand stitches, evocative of the slow process involved in construction, and functioning as a layer of ‘drawing’ on the quilts surface.

Like so many women before her, my maternal grandmother planned a collaborative quilt to celebrate my birth, and introduced me to the art of quilting. My work continues a family tradition, but congruently incorporates new information from varied quilting traditions, and my multidisciplinary training in art. Often inspired by painters, I feel an artistic connection with Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Mark Bradford, Julie Mehretu, Cy Twombly, Agnes Martin, William Kentridge, El Anatsui, Do Ho Suh, the quilts of Gee’s Bend, and the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi."

YouTube: youtube.com/heidiparkes
Instagram: Instagram.com/heidi.parkes
Website: heidiparkes.com

About Karin

Karin has had some sort of needle in her hand since she was 10 years old and that was over 66 years ago. She has always been a maker and dabbled in many art forms, but textiles are her favorite, whether they are quilts, art quilts, felted objects, or hand stitching. In her previous career before retirement, she was a middle school math teacher. Karin developed geometry curriculum for her 6th-8th graders and always included artwork as its application. Now in her retirement, she enjoys expressing herself with her own studio work and charity quilting for Madison's Healing House, or more recently, the Stoughton Ukrainian Refugee Resettlement Program. Her artwork is on display through May of 2023, at the Overture Center.

About Leah

"My quilted wall hangings consist of layers of the following techniques: appliqué, reverse appliqué, piecing, natural and synthetic dyeing, needle-felting, hand printing, and a variety of embroidery stitches. There is an overall balance between hand and machine work. Tools I most often employ include a household-use Kenmore sewing machine, chalk, needles, rulers, compass, staple gun, and scissors. I do not use a computer or any imaging software in my work and I try to use hand processes and tools as opposed to electric. By incorporating vintage kimonos, upholstery remnants, and many other secondhand materials, the works are in keeping with the quilt tradition of recycling.

My current thematic focus is the ways in which people impact their environment and, in turn, how the environment affects people. The pieces are influenced by aerial photography, maps, and satellite imagery, but are not always based on specific places. Mining, agriculture, water use and treatment, nuclear power, residential development, and oil extraction are frequent subjects of my work and are meant as visual reminders of the changes we create in the land. Similarly, components of my work demonstrate the influence of nature on our constructs, such as a river changing its course, thereby causing a shift in property divisions, and shifting coastlines due to climate change.

It is the use of maps in organizing our ideas of land that interests me most of all. Often, people ask me for specifics about the places and symbols in my work. Most of my pieces are not based consciously on specific places. For me, they are intimate explorations of map language and imagined landscapes. Through my research and experience, I have decided that maps create more questions than they answer."
Website: leahevanstextiles.com
Instagram: @leahevanstextiles
Etsy: etsy.com/shop/LeahEvansTextiles

About Liz

Liz is an English Paper Piecing instructor and pattern designer for EPP and machine pieced quilts. She loves to bake and share her quilting adventures! Check her out on Instagram: @indiehipsterquilts

About Maday

Maday is a prolific art educator, published artist, and guild presenter based in the Midwest committed to bringing innovation and artistry to the forefront of the work she creates. Her mission is to nurture artistic platforms across cultures and generations to foster creative work while finding ways to minimize her environmental footprint.

Learning from cultural textile traditions and exchanging powerful stories, continues to be a source of inspiration that she hopes to share with all.

Her goal is to unify students with different skill sets and share her love of art and vibrant textiles. She combines painting, weaving, hand-stitching and machine sewing and embroidery to infuse her creations with energy and pay homage to her Cuban upbringing. She loves the art of collaging and storytelling with new and pre-loved textiles; Janome machines keep up with her big, scrappy ideas every step of the way.

Maday’s work has appeared in the international publication Uppercase magazine (2022, 2020) the book Quilted (2019), and periodicals in her home state. She also presented virtually to the design students at the Indian Institute of Art & Design in New Delhi, India in August 2020 and teaches at Folk Schools, Quilt Shops, and Quilt Shows. Let’s continue to learn together.
Website: sustainabletextiledesign.com
Instagram: @sustainabletextiledesign

About Marian

Marian is a quilter and educator who loves to share her passion for all things fabric and quilt making. She has an extensive stash of fabric and is looking forward to putting it to good use! She also loves making for others and participating in swaps and her previous works can be found on Instagram @swimmingwith3.

About Rebecca

Rebecca takes the intimidation factor out of the quilt-making process, and believes regardless of skill level, anyone can make a quilt. Helping others discover and enjoy quilting is a passion for Rebecca. A member of the Madison Modern Quilt Guild and Mad City Quilt Guild, Rebecca designs her own line of quilt patterns and shares them with the quilting community. She creates from her studio in Madison, WI.
studiorquilts.com | @studiorquilts | facebook.com/studiorquilts

About Trisha

Social sewing is Trisha's forte. Her sewing prowess includes garment and bag making as well as quilting. Trisha is active in several Madison area quilt guilds, and is a president emeritus of the Lodi Valley Quilt Guild. She is a valued staff member at BBQuilts, and of course, the "T" to Gael's "G" in the popular shop video chats. When not putting the pedal to the metal at her sewing machine, she can be found working with her family in their large vegetable garden, in the kitchen making jam and other delicious goodies, or having fun with her Golden Retriever, Ozzie. Say hi on instagram: @trish_urben